Marmalade

It's way to early to have anything else On My Mind this morning.....

I have made myself a nice cup of tea and some toast with my favourite homemade  Marmalade.....

I promised to send this recipe to Mrs Moo, so here it is:

Sweet Orange Marmalade

 4 oranges

Juice of 2 lemons

4 cups water

4 cups sugar

Cut the Oranges and lemon in half and squeeze out the juice. 

Keep the pips and tie them in a muslin bag.

Thinly or coarsely (depending on how chunky you like your Marmalade) chop the skins

Put the cut oranges, juice and bag of pips and water into a saucepan, bring slowly to the boil and simmer gently for approx 2 hours or until the skins are tender. 

 Add sugar and stir until it dissolves, remove bag of pips and boil rapidly for approx 15 - 20 minutes or until a little will set on a chilled saucer.

Remove from heat, allow to settle then bottle and seal. 

I think I did pretty a pretty good job with this considering it was my first ever batch. With citrus season just around the corner, I am looking forward to trying a few other variations to this recipe this year.

 Anybody got any hot tips for making a Good Marmalade?

Please join me at Down to Earth to see what's on everybody else's mind today

Finding the Time. . .

 "Lose an Hour in the Morning

and you will spend all day looking for it"

Richard Whately

 At the start of each day I write myself a 'To Do' list, it usually involves a few or a lot of household jobs, what to cook for dinner, maybe a phone call to make, bills to pay and something fun like a craft project, some planting in the garden, a special treat to bake or preserve, or allow myself sometime to Blog.

 I find if I set myself just small goals everyday then they are much more achievable.  I do not hold as much expectation on myself, if it does not get accomplished it simply gets moved to the start of the next days list and so on...

I do pride myself on my organisation skills, however I do have many times of major procrastination and minor meltdown...!

So with all that said this was my  weekend project 

Just crossed off my list . . .

Beef Jerky  

&

 Dried Apples

On My Mind...

I have, for various reasons had a bit of spare time on my hands this week, I have spent heaps of time out cleaning up the garden, played a little in the kitchen and also caught up on a few of my favourite Blogs and also found some fabulous new ones.  I'm sitting out in the sun this morning having my morning cuppa, It's a little bit cooler here this morning, the air has that real Autumn feel to it...no other word can describe it best as just Nice...

I'm looking at my new Granny Blanket I picked up at the Salvos just the week before last for a bargain $6.  It's actually a good queen bed size, in near perfect condition and I just LOVE the colours....I have held many a granny blanket in my hand at the op shops only to put it down again because as lovely as it was and as much as I am fully aware of the traditional anything goes colours of a granny square blanket, they just never really spoke to me like this last one did. It had a wash yesterday and is hanging over my deck rail to dry, As I sit here admiring it I realised that I should be grabbing the crochet needle and starting on one of these myself.  This has been On My Mind for a number of years now... I'm off to my mothers place for a visit this weekend, I shall get into her old craft cupboard, steel myself a needle and next time I sit out here in the sun, I shall start on my 2011 Winter Project - Crochet a Granny Square . . . !
What's on your mind today?  Join me over at Down to Earth today and see what is on everyone else mind too...

Making IT - Not Faking IT

OLD FASHIONED SWEETS

No Artificial Flavours, Colours or Preservatives in this Lot, just good old SUGAR and WATER

 It was Big kids only in the kitchen this time:

Toffee

3 cups sugar

1 cup water

1/4 cup vinegar

Boil all ingredients for approx 10 - 12 minutes, or until a little hard ball can be formed when a little of the mixture is placed in cold water. At this time the mixture will starts to turn a light caramel colour. Take off the heat immediately and allow bubbles to settle (which I did not do) and pour into Patty Pans. Allow to harden.  If you like you may sprinkle them with hundreds and thousands or maybe try some crushed nuts before they set.

One taste of these toffees and I was taken straight back to the confectionery stall that stood outside the tuck shop at my old primary school fete.  I remember making these with Mum when I was younger and through my high school years I experimented with other sweets like, chocolate fudge, coconut ice, sugar coated peanuts, peanut brittle, caramel popcorn balls, homemade honeycomb and marshmallows...

It's been on my list to do for a while now, to make the kids some real homemade treats, my eldest two can't believe that these sweets  taste so good, I caught them sneaking some into their lunchboxes this morning to share with their friends.  It has been so much fun to get the old  recipe books out and make these once again

I know I sound like an old granny, but you just don't see them around anymore, recipes and trends have changed so much.

 I'm actually off to a local Country fete this weekend and I shall be keeping an eye out for any of these goodies on sale.

Marshmallows

1 1/2 tabs gelatine

100ml cold water

pinch salt

1 1/4  cups sugar

140ml hot water

Toasted coconut

Place gelatine, cold water and salt in a mixing bowl

Place sugar and hot water in a saucepan and bring to boiling point

Pour over gelatine mixture and stir until dissolved

Beat until thick and white (holds it's form when lifted) 

Add colouring and flavouring (if desired)

Pour into a greased tray

Cut into squares when set

Toss in toasted coconut

* To toast coconut, spread approx 1 cup of coconut on a large plate and place under the grill, keep tossing coconut until golden all over.

(alternatively you can cook in microwave, just tossing every 20 sec or so for approx 2 - 3 minutes) 



Chocolate Fudge

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tabs butter

2 tabs cocoa

1/8 teasp cream of tartar

Vanilla

Place sugar, milk, butter, cocoa and cream of tartar in a saucepan

Stir over low heat until dissolved

Allow to boil for approx 8 min or until a little soft ball can be formed when a little of the mixture is placed in cold water

Remove from heat, add vanilla and beat until stiff

Pour into greased tray

When partly set mark into squares

Allow to harden before removing from tin

*Be careful not to over boil as fudge will harden while beating and set brittle and sugary. (Like mine did - Still YUM though)

*To make Vanilla fudge, just omit the cocoa

ENJOY !!!

"The Banging Wall"

   

Cling Clang, Bang Bong

We play music all day long

Ting Tang, fun for all

Playing on our BANGING WALL

I have to say I feel quite proud of my latest creation, Our Banging Wall, What do you think? This was inspired by the one and only Soule Mama mother of "The Creative Family".  I finally found a way to use and display some of my collection of old  kitchen wares...the ones that are a bit too rusty and crusty to actually keep in the kitchen...It's been so much fun to make, I have tied them to the fence with old scraps of leather I had in my craft box. A few weeks ago there were only a couple of pieces then I found a few more to add, and a few more and well luckily we have a big fence because I see this thing growing for a while yet.

It sits right in the middle of our backyard so not a day goes by without someone having a bash... well my little ones don't really bash they tend to just tinkle a little and sing,  precious little things they are.  But, we have had a few visitors here of late and it has certainly been put to the test.
Cling Cling...Ting Ting...Clonk, Clang,  BANG!!!

Fresh Flowers

Just as expected, In summer they bloomed and as Autumn arrives my Zinnias were picked for the Kitchen. 

Ooops. . .I really should have taken a photo before I cut the best of them out of the garden. . .

This lot I'll seed save, so I can sow again next spring.  I'm not sure how they'll go? Bit old do you think? I'll plant them anyway when the time comes and we'll see what happens. Just to be on the safe side, I think I'll save a few seeds from this seasons too. . .

 This is actually a little milestone post for me today, These Zinnia's, now in my kitchen were just seedlings in one of my first posts when I started this blog....

That puts a really big smile on my face, it makes me feel like I've been really productive...

YES! I have achieved what I set out to do!  :)

Yesterday's Tomatoes. . .

Before you ask. . . No, they are NOT from my garden but I did pick them up for a bargain!  $2 actually!!
 I remember my mother always bringing home reduced boxes of half rotten fruit and making us
Fruit Salad....I swore I would never do that to my children, but here I am, now buying bargain boxes from the throwout table at the fruit and veggie shop.
 Lets get Cooking . . .

One of my Christmas presents this year was a food dehydrator (purchased for myself from SANTA) so this is the first time I get to use it. Great device but it sounds like a hairdryer going for about 8 - 12 hours so I stuck it up in the shed for the night to do it's work, and work it did!

Mmmm . . . I call these "Dehydrated Semidried Tomatoes" bottled in extra virgin olive oil.

Then I made Tomato Relish, but I have to say this recipe is more like a Chutney 

What's the difference?  Apparently chutneys have a chunky spreadable consistency much like a preserve, where as relishes are hardly cooked, use less sugar if any, and are more crunchy to the bite. 

Tomato Chutney

1 1/2 kg tomatoes

500gm onions

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup salt

1 cup white vinegar

2 tabs cornflour

2 teas curry powder

Skin tomatoes and chop roughly

Peel onions and chop finely

Place in a large saucepan and add salt, sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil until tender and sauce reduces slightly, approx 1 1/2 hours

Blend cornflour and curry powder with a little vinegar to make a paste then add. 

Cook until mixture thickens, if mixture is too thin add a little more cornflour or if too thick add little extra vinegar.  Will also thicken when cool. Water bath to seal and store in dark cupboard until ready to use.

and then I was over it . . .

the rest of the tomatoes got blanched, peeled and frozen for adding to recipes at a later date. 

And thats what I did with yesterday's tomatoes TODAY...

Back in the Garden

It seems like ages since I've been out in the garden, with all the rain we had over December and January I lost a lot of my veggies and herbs (that were really almost at the end of their season anyway) and with all the hot weather that has followed I've not wanted to even be outside.  I've been a bit slack...But it has all changed today. Thanks as always to all those lovely  bloggers and their inspiring gardens I picked up my shovel, put on my hat and ventured out into the veggie patch once again.  I  ripped out the last of what was left and dug, and mixed and mulched and then I planted.

 

I  decide that this time round I would raise most of my seed to seedlings before I plant them in the ground.  I have seen the newspaper roll seedling pots around on a many blogs now and thought I might try this method. It was actually quite a fun activity for the whole family. . . .

 

 I had (whilst been hiding inside on these hot days) done a small amount of research into how I was going to plant this season..I stumbled across this great website Gardenate it is a very easy to read site about planting seasons and the best part about it is that you can subscribe to receive a reminder for what to plant each month...I think this will work for me!  No more digging around the garden books looking for planting guides, this means more time out in the garden for me. . .          

 

   Today with the help of my little diggers we planted Egg plant, Cucumber, Climbing beans, Carrots, Cos, and Silver beet, and my favourite herbs, Parsley and Basil.  Hope these were all on the planting list??? I wish my garden was bigger so I could plant more.. . I noticed on the seed packets today that they recommend you plant every week or fortnightly intervals for a succession of crops. That would be the ideal self sufficient way, perhaps when my littlies grow a little more I may have a bit more time to focus on some planting structure (and digging a larger garden) but for now I'll be happy if I get a salad or two for the family out this lot. . .

Would you like cheese with that?

 

I found this Really Cool Cheese Grater recently at an Antique store, I don't usually buy from Antique stores as I much prefer the thrill of the bargain when I find something old and junky or old and useful, at markets or second hand stores. . . but when I saw this I just had to have it. I have a thing for cheese graters, I have several of them on display in my kitchen and plenty more stashed away for the day when my kitchen might just magically double in size!!!   I have noticed with my purchases of kitchen collections over the years just exactly why some utensils have become extinct and I have found others to be very practical indeed.  This is one of them. Best grater I have ever used.  It attaches to the bench like an old meat mincer, and works on the same concept. Turn the handle and out come grated cheese...no more grating off the edges of my fingers which I have done on many occasions in an attempt to grate large heavy chunks of cheddar.

 

  

 Tonight it was Pizza on the menu.
 Homemade pizza dough of course...

Voila!!!   Pepperoni Pizza!!! with stacks of cheese!!!

Gone nuts...

 We have a HUGE Macadamia nut tree on our property...  We used to have two but one was removed to make way for bigger and better things....(more info on that another day) These little nuts are pretty expensive in the market so it’s quite a treat to have our very own tree in the backyard... The nuts mature on the trees and drop to the ground when they are ripe and ready...It seems as though they have taken forever to ripen this season and my little gatherers have been getting impatient.  But today we found our treasure, a recent small storm had finally blown a few to the ground. Once they were spotted they were quickly collected and the Nut Smashing commenced.  Ever tried to crack one of these nuts??? They are perfectly round and  have a very, very hard shell. There is quite a trick to placing the nut and hitting down straight and hard with a hammer to make a break in the shell, but without completely smashing it smithereens.....The girls got stacks of enjoyment just chasing around the nuts that went flying off the edge of the hammer. The ones we managed to crack were just perfect! 

Mmmm yummy fresh nuts... personally I prefer them roasted and salted but as usual in this place, nothing ever quite lasts that long.

They are eaten up before the roasting pan is even taken out of the cupboard.

The Oven is On

With the big kids back at school and the new year well on it's way I've finally found some time to get  back into the kitchen.  When I bake, I BAKE...This week it was Date Loaf.  A favourite for everybody, and it doesn't last long around here. I like to think that it's a relatively healthy snack so it's great for lunchboxes. This recipe freezes very well, so I make a few at a time, freeze them and then slice them up fresh when needed!     

 

Date Loaf
1  cup chopped dates
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tabs butter
1 teasp baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1 egg
3/4 cup sr flour
3/4 cup plain flour                      


Place dates, sugar, butter and baking soda in a bowl
Pour boiling water over and mix well together
Allow to stands until almost cold
Add the beaten egg
Sift dry ingredients together and add gradually, Mix well
Pour into greased and floured bar tin
bake in slow to moderate oven for approx 40 minutes
Serve sliced with butter

Happy Australia Day

Our Backyard BBQ